Class change in RolePlayingGames and games with RPGElements are almost as old as the genres themselves. In general, changing classes does not affect your character's level--he just gains new abilities in his new class as he goes.

In some cases, however, the act of changing classes will cause your character's level to be reset to 1. He will still keep all the abilities from his previous class, but he'll have to start over in his new class otherwise.

For general events that reset a character's level, see LevelDrain. The opposite of this would be PrestigeClass. Compare SkillPointReset, which resets your character but doesn't change their class and refunds all their skill points.---- !!Examples

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[[folder:Action RPG]]* In ''VideoGame/EVOSearchForEden'', when evolving to a new class of creature (amphibian, reptile, bird, or mammal), you not only start as the weakest possible creature of that class, but you lose all of your EVO points as well. Up until the Age of Reptiles, this class change is forced on you at the beginning of the chapter, preventing you from carrying the benefits of LevelGrinding from one chapter to the next. After this point, you are free to choose whether to advance to an avian (which lets you fly) or mammalian (which lets you run on ice and gives you a reverse-kick attack), or to remain a reptile and keep all your levels. However, the green crystal lets you borrow an earlier form to make recollecting some EVO points easier.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Eastern RPG]] * ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'': ** This applies when you had your characters change their class in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII''. ** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'' had a job retrainer. Every time a character changes professions (barring previous jobs in which they have trained, where they will return to where they left off), they start back at level 1, including hit points. Skills and bonuses from spending skill points are kept, (although the new class may not be able to use the old's classes weapon unless that weapon skill was maxed out), but spells are not. The character could also retrain to their old job and not have lost any progress. Once a character hits level 99 in any job, he can revocate it and go back to level 1 (again, keeping the skills but not the spells). This is necessary if you want a character to have ''every'' skill, as even leveling all jobs to 99 only gets you enough points for 12 out of the 14 skill lists. [[spoiler: Doing this with the main character is very important, as the number of revocations (up to 10) is a factor in the level of grottoes you find, and thus the treasure they contain]].* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'': ** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', Cecil's level returns to 1 after he changes from a Dark Knight to a Paladin, but his HP and some other stats are equal or better than what they were when he was a level 20-ish Dark Knight. (In a variation, however, Dark Knight Cecil and Paladin Cecil are actually two separate characters in the game code, so nothing you do as the former will carry over to the latter)** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'', each class is leveled independently. So if you have a level 40 Warrior and never level any other class, then changing that class later would drop back to one. The same mechanic applies for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' as well.* ''VideoGame/TouhouLabyrinth'': True for all the bosses that you recruit. Thank goodness for LeakedExperience (you still have to spend the points on levels and distribute their level bonuses). [[/folder]]

[[folder:Forum Roleplays]]* Takeshi Sakamoto from ''Roleplay/{{Raishon}}''. When he realized his Velocity Manipulation was Vector Manipulation, Takeshi had to redo all of his many experiments with this new mindset. Luckily for him, he did not have to do a SkillPointReset.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Massively Multiplayer Online Games]] * ''VideoGame/FlyFF'' [[SubvertedTrope does this differently]] with the [[PrestigeClass Hero job classes]]. To obtain a Hero job class, one must obtain the corresponding Master class and be at level 120 while in that job class. To obtain the Master class, one must be at level 120 while in its corresponding second job class, and your level will be reset to 60-Master, which requires 3x the normal EXP to get to level 120-Master and become a level 120-Hero. This is the only way a character can break the level 120 and 120-M caps. * In ''VideoGame/{{Mabinogi}}'', your character can "rebirth" at any time, starting over anywhere between age 10 and 17 and reverting to level 1. As you level, you earn AP, which you can spend to increase skill ranks, which in turn get you stat bonuses. While rebirth loses you all the stat points you gained from experience levels themselves, you keep your skill ranks and the bonuses, as well as your inventory. Then you get to take advantage of the fast level gain for a starting character to earn more AP. * ''VideoGame/RagnarokOnline'' does this with its [[PrestigeClass Rebirth Classes]]. To obtain the rebirth class, one must get to level 99 and become a High Novice (thus the level reset to 1) and pick the same first and second job classes as the pre-Rebirth one. The second rebirth class has more powerful abilities and skills than the non-rebirth one. Thus, getting [[NintendoHard 3x the EXP needed than normal]] to obtain the rebirth classes is recommended to get the best skills for the very powerful third job classes. * ''VideoGame/EdenEternal'' has two tiers of persistent progression and a third that resets. This allows a character to retain some level of power between class changes and eases the process of obtaining and leveling new classes. ** Character levels (influencing base stats and racial abilities) will never reset. ** 'Main' jobs - First jobs - start from level 1 when they are acquired one but their level will persist between subjobs.** 'Sub' jobs - Third jobs and Hybrid jobs - always start from level 1.* ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline2'' allows players to switch between classes at any time outside of quests, but they all level separately and have their own entirely separate stats and skill trees. However, a subclass can also be equipped, which grants a percentage of its stat bonuses and some class traits, so it's possible have a level 1 main class and a max-level subclass, putting you fairly ahead when leveling alternate classes.

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[[folder:Strategy RPG]] * This is a staple of the ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' series. The Reincarnation ability allows you to change any (non-plot) unit to any other type of unit, keeping some of their abilities and bonuses to their stats, but they always start over at level 1. * In ''VideoGame/ShiningForce'', once characters reach a certain level, they can be promoted. Doing so upgrades their class--for example, a Knight becomes a Paladin, and a Warrior becomes a Gladiator--at the cost of sending them back to level 1. However, some of their stats are preserved, and the [[{{Cap}} Level Cap]] that affects unpromoted characters is removed. * The method of promotion in the ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' series. After a character reaches a high enough level in their base class and uses a special class changing item (in the [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius Tellius games]], one only need to gain a level after reaching [[{{Cap}} level 20]]), that character's level reverts to 1. However, their stats, stat caps, and abilities sharply increase in the process. The exception being [[VideoGame/FireEmblemJugdral Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War]], where you don't reset to level 1 and have a 30 level cap instead of traditional 20. ** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' adds a more traditional example with the Second Seal: Rather than turning a basic class into an advanced class, they give a character an alternative basic (or, in certain circumstances, alternative advanced) class. You can also choose to demote your character from an advanced class back to a (different if you so choose) basic class so you can start gaining stats anew and learn new skills. As with regular promotion, accumulated stat points and skills are still available, but demoting means you lose the stat bonuses you originally gained from promoting to begin with, but you gain them back when you repromote them to an advanced class. It's also possible to use the Second Seal to "promote" your character to ''the same class'', if you want to keep grinding them but don't want to switch their class.* Arthas goes from level 10 to 1 after his FaceHeelTurn from Paladin to Death Knight in ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII''.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]] * In early editions of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', humans (and only humans) could "dual-class", losing most of the abilities of their first class and leveling up in the second. Once they reached the same level in the second class, they got the abilities of the first class back.** Strictly speaking, you ''could'' use the abilities of your first class before matching it with the second... but then you wouldn't get any ExperiencePoints for the situation where you used your old abilities. The justification was that experience points represent growth and learning, but relying on your old abilities is just backsliding into old habits.* ''TabletopGame/ApocalypseWorld'': One of the advanced level-up options is to have your character change class, which involves giving up everything that ties them to their current class (up to and including leadership of a settlement). [[/folder]]

[[folder:Western RPG]] * In ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'', when a human character chooses to dual class they start all the way back at level one for their new class and don't receive any of the abilities of their old class until they achieve one level higher than they were before switching classes. * ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'': The hero could become a warrior, wizard or thief. He starts as a warrior, and when he changes classes, he resets. Progression in the other classes are frozen until he changes back to them, though. * Partly true of the ''VideoGame/{{Wizardry}}'' series, as explained [[http://www.joystiq.com/2012/06/22/best-class-system-in-rpgs-belongs-to-wizardry-vii/ here]]. When changing classes, your level and stats were reset to zero or the class/race minimum but you kept the skills and spells you had at your old class/level. [[/folder]] ----